1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a regulating device and, more particularly, to a water flow regulating device and an ocean power generating device using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ocean energy (including tidal current energy, ocean wave energy, and ocean current energy) refers to the mechanical energy generated by flow of sea water. As a kind of renewable energy, the ocean energy is abundant and widespread, and has extremely good development prospects and value. The ocean energy is mainly used for generating power, and the working principle of ocean energy power generation is similar to that of wind power generation and conventional hydroelectric generation. That is, the mechanical energy of the sea water is converted into electricity via an energy conversion device. Specifically, the sea water impacts hydro turbines first, and then the hydro turbines convert the energy of the water flow into the mechanical energy of rotation and drive an electric generator to generate power via a mechanical drive system. Finally, the mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy.
Nowadays, with the increasing shortage of energy and the increasing serious greenhouse effect, energy is required to be low-carbon. Thus, clean energy, such as wind energy and ocean energy (including tidal energy, the tidal current energy, the ocean wave energy, and the ocean current energy), will be the future direction of energy development. However, the power generating devices for the clean energy are still developing, and the utilization of ocean energy is still in the initial stage, except for the relatively mature wind energy utilization.
Ocean energy is unstable (in particular, the speed of the ocean current changes dramatically). The current ocean power generating devices all have problems of generating unstable power, large fluctuation, and failure to directly output and use the generated electricity.